Happy Horse Equestrian Center of Orchard Park

11/17/2022

Happy Horses!!

10/02/2022

Please watch.

The 24 Behaviors of the Ridden Horse in Pain is a film that dares to challenge the way we look at "badly behaving" horses, and promotes the notion that lamen...

07/27/2022

A bit of heaven on earth.

07/27/2022

So important in this heat!

To keep your horse hydrated in the summer months, tend to his waterers and troughs to make sure he has easy, safe access to clean water at all times. During warm weather, making sure your horse drinks enough water is a top management concern. To avoid dehydration, horses need access to water 24 hour...

05/14/2022

Night turnout is apparently exhausting!! 🍒

05/14/2022

The incredible joy of new footing 😆🎉

04/24/2022

Happy Horse is looking for barn help!!
Feeding, turnout, bring in, stalls, the usual.
Come join our wonderful farm family and get paid to do it!!

03/12/2022

I suggested that Amanda patent this brilliant idea!! 💡 😎

02/24/2022

Happy Birthday 🎂 Kelsey!! We love and appreciate you!!!

02/22/2022

Today was a pretty good day to be a HAPPY HORSE.

02/21/2022

You know you have a great barn family when you still like each other this much, after a long, cold winter 🏆🥂🐎

11/22/2021

Happy Horse is looking for a person to join our team part-time. If you are interested, call Jared at (716) 308-2454!

11/01/2021

“I'll be in the barn.

When people have come to visit over the years they commonly hear from me: I'll be in the barn.

When life gets hard I'll be in the barn.
When things are just right I'll be in the barn.

When the sun shines
The rain falls
Or snow covers the ground
I'll be in the barn.

If things seem to be falling apart or if I'm celebrating the simple things, I'll be in the barn.

When I'm looking for answers or trying to clear my mind, I'll be in the barn.

When I'm looking for myself, I'll be in the barn.

If I'm working or trying to relax, I'll be in the barn.

Even when I'm not in the barn my mind drifts there, I find myself thinking about being in the barn.....

soaking feed for the next day,
mucking or spreading manure,
how to fix a problem I've been having with horse,
tack that needs to be cleaned or changed or mended,
wounds that need to be doctored,
if I need to put on blankets or fly masks.

It's where I keep my riches
All my wins and my failures
Every one of my hopes
Dreams
Hardships
And memories

You can find them all in the barn, buried in the hay, hiding under a saddle, spilling out of the feed bins, or glimmering with dust in the evening light.

I may be covered in dust, dirt, a mash feed, hair, and hay, smell of sweat and manure, and sometimes there may be blood or tears but I'll be there. I'll be in the barn.

So if your wondering where to find me, I'll be in the barn. If I'm not there I promise I'm on my way.”

11/01/2021

Welcome November!! Thank you for the sunshine ☀️

10/10/2021

The essentials are:
Kindness
Humility
A willingness to listen

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HORSE WHISPERER. There never has been and never will be. The idea is an affront to the horse. You can talk and listen to horses all you want, and what you will learn, if you pay close attention, is that they live on open ground way beyond language and that language, no matter how you characterize it, is a poor trope for what horses understand about themselves and about humans. You need to practice only three things, patience, observation and humility, all of which were summed up in the life of an old man who died Tuesday (July 20, 1999) in California, a man named Bill Dorrance.

Dorrance was 93, and until only a few months before his death he still rode and he still roped. He was one of a handful of men, including his brother Tom, who in separate ways have helped redefine relations between the horse and the human. Bill Dorrance saw that subtlety was nearly always a more effective tool than force, but he realized that subtlety was a hard tool to exercise if you believe, as most people do, that you are superior to the horse. There was no dominance in the way Dorrance rode, or in what he taught, only partnership. To the exalted horsemanship of the vaquero -- the Spanish cowboy of 18th-century California -- he brought an exalted humanity, whose highest expression is faith in the willingness of the horse.

There is no codifying what Bill Dorrance knew. Some of it, like how to braid a rawhide lariat, is relatively easy to teach, and some of it, thanks to the individuality of horses and humans, cannot be taught at all, only learned. His legacy is exceedingly complex and, in a sense, self-annulling. It is an internal legacy. The more a horseman says he has learned from Dorrance the less likely he is to have learned anything at all.

That sounds oblique, but it reflects the fact that what you could learn from Dorrance was a manner of learning whose subject was nominally the horse but that extended itself in surprising directions to include dogs, cattle and people. If you learned it, you would know it was nothing to boast about.

There is no mysticism, no magic, in this, only the recognition of kinship with horses. Plenty of people have come across Bill Dorrance and borrowed an insight or two, and some have made a lot of money by popularizing what they seemed to think he knew. But what he knew will never be popular, nor did he ever make much money from it. You cannot sell modesty or undying curiosity. It is hard to put a price on accepting that everything you think you know about horses may change with the very next horse.

From an article by Verlyn Klinkenborg 'Death of a Legendary Horseman' - NY Times July 24, 1999 - http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/24/opinion/editorial-notebook-death-of-a-legendary-horseman.html

Image of Bill is by Steven and Leslie Dorrance - http://www.billdorrance.com/about.htm

10/09/2021

09/04/2021

Evening rides and morning stillness.

08/22/2021

Sunday is Kid Day at Happy Horse!! Pretty happy children, as well as ponies.

08/22/2021

The kids had a great time at their first horse show!!! Thank you Emma, Amanda, Joey, and Cooper!!!

08/20/2021

Only two months together, and they are becoming a team!!

08/20/2021

So proud of Emma and her horses!! She knows that relationship is key. 💕

We were at horse headquarters to find out what it takes to make a champion.

08/19/2021

Come see us at the fair!!!

08/13/2021

Summer evening.

08/12/2021

There are pieces of my heart out there too.
Please be loving and respectful.

Letter from a Groom

Yesterday was a hard day. I loaded a horse onto a trailer. I kissed that horse's neck, just like the last million times, and told him to behave himself. Not that he was going someplace bad. I actually didn't know where he'd end up. I told him to behave because any decent horseman or woman will respect that quality and treat that horse well. I don't know if he will get that respect. But I know he will behave.

Yesterday, I touched a horse for the last time. He had only lived 28 days. I stayed with him during his very first 24 hours. I lifted him to his feet so that he could nurse. Every 20 minutes. His color changed from dark wet sleek to fluffy baby brown. And many days later, when he was much stronger on his spindly legs, in a big green field, another mare kicked him. So I kissed his neck and told him to go run and play.

Yesterday, I held a horse in the Winner's Circle. I smiled as we became part of history. The world could see what that horse had done. And I had helped him. It was just one day, a few minutes really, but one of our best and I was proud. So I patted his neck and said "good boy".

Yesterday, I walked into the barn. I'm always the first person there. It's early but I don't mind because twenty pairs of eyes look at me eagerly and nicker to me with breathy voices. I kiss a few muzzles but not everyone tolerates the nonsense of a late breakfast so I quickly get the grain. Their voices are music to my ears.

Yesterday I waited, my whole heart hurting as you stood in the field with a broken leg. When the vet finally showed, he drove straight down to where you stood shaking and immediately started grabbing needles and pulling blue liquid. I was his only helper and he instructed me through the din of my uncontrollable sobs. I held your artery and told you that soon you wouldn't hurt anymore. I let go and then fell to my knees to lay across your neck.

There are pieces of my heart out there. And I don't know which goodbye is worse. When it's cold, I pray that you have enough hay to eat. I hope that someone cares enough to give you water and exercise and a pat on the neck. Are your feet trimmed? Did you get your spring shots? Does your leg bother you still? Do they rub liniment on it or ice it or is it completely healed? I still see you in the barn. I can still see you in a picture, but every day when I walk past your stall, there is another horse there.

I will give my best to him too.

There are pieces of my heart out there. And the best goodbyes come with the knowledge that my horse still has a job and a home with horsemen and women who respect him.

08/11/2021

The great thing about our location is that there is always a stiff breeze. AnnaLee and Cooper were quite comfortable outside, despite the heat!!

08/07/2021

08/02/2021

He’s got talent!!

08/02/2021

He’s just a big puppy! (Not Jared, the horse 😆)

07/31/2021

Sunrise.

07/30/2021

Happy all around!

07/28/2021

Trying to mow before the storm. Almost made it 🤷🏻‍♀️

07/28/2021

Just a girl and her giant pony 💕

07/19/2021

When life gives you lemons 🍋…

07/16/2021

Creature and Amanda Lenau becoming a great team!!!

07/09/2021

Who says pasture picking can’t be fun???
Amanda Lenau Catherine Meyer

07/06/2021

Hay, hay, hay!!!

07/05/2021

Welcome Annalee and Kelly!!

07/04/2021

Sadly, nothing happened 🤷🏻‍♀️🤴🏻

07/02/2021

Congratulations Emma Veros on your amazingly successful weekend at YEDA!! Go girl 🎉 we are so proud of you!!!

07/02/2021

Welcome to Happy Horse!